EU: Russia has 1 week to scale back actions in Ukraine

The presidents of the European Commission and Ukraine warn Russia against escalating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying it is close to reaching the point of no return. Vanessa Johnston reports.
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The European Union is giving Russia a one-week ultimatum to scale back its intervention in Ukraine or face additional economic sanctions.

EU summit chairman Herman Van Rompuy said early Sunday that the bloc's 28 leaders tasked its executive body to "urgently undertake preparatory work for consideration within a week."

He says "everybody is fully aware that we have to act quickly."

Still, in apparent fear of an economic backlash, EU leaders meeting in Brussels shied away from immediately imposing tougher sanctions. Russia is the EU's No. 3 trading partner and one of its biggest oil and gas suppliers.

"Sanctions are not an end in themselves," but are a way to discourage Russia from further destabilizing its neighbor, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said before an EU leaders' summit. "Russia should not underestimate the European Union's will and resolve to stand by its principles and values."

Russia has repeatedly denied claims it is supporting rebels in Ukraine's east with weapons and expertise, despite NATO estimates that 1,000 Russian soldiers are in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks past a pile of shells stored inside a hole inside a military camp in the Donetsk region, on Aug. 29, 2014.(Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak, AFP/Getty Images)

"The opening of new fronts and the use of Russian regular forces (on Ukrainian soil) is not acceptable and represents a grave transgression," said Barroso, who provided no specifics on the sanctions being considered.

"No one's interest is served by new wars on our continent," he added.

Nearly 2,600 people have died in clashes between Ukrainian armed forces and Russian-backed rebels since April, according to a U.N. report.

Ukrainian forces facing strong resistance from pro-Russian separatists were abandoning one city and pulling back from two others on Saturday as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — who was set to meet with EU leaders later Saturday — called for a strong EU response to the "military aggression and terror" his country is facing.

"Thousand(s) of the foreign troops and hundreds of the foreign tanks are now on the territory of Ukraine," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with Barroso. "There is a very high risk not only for peace and stability for Ukraine but for the whole peace and stability of Europe."

The United States and the EU have so far imposed sanctions against dozens of Russian officials, several companies and the country's financial industry. Moscow has retaliated by banning food imports.

A Ukrainian soldier stands next to tanks while preparing to withdraw from the eastern city of Artemivsk. (Photo: Roman Pilipey, epa)

An Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative watches the Ukrainian artillery withdrawal near Vasiukovka, Ukraine, in the Donetsk area on Feb. 27, 2015. Ukraine is withdrawing heavy weapons from its front line in the east in order to test whether a peace plan with Russian-backed separatists can work. (Photo: Anastasia Vlasova, European Pressphoto Agency)

A woman in traditional costume lays flowers at the temporary memorial for Maidan activists who were killed during anti-government protest one year ago in Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo: Sergey Dolzhenko, European Pressphoto Agency)

Ukrainian prisoners of war stand during a prisoner exchange of Ukrainian troops and separatists rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Frunze late Feb. 21. (Photo: Andrei Leble, European Pressphoto Agency)

A boy climbs on a Russia-made trophy artillery rocket system, seized by the Ukrainian troops, at an open-air exhibition in front of the golden-domed St Michael Cathedral, in Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo: Efrem Lukatsky, AP)

A handout photo taken and released by the Presidential press-service shows Ukrainian President Petro Posroshenko greets a wounded serviceman during his visit to military hospital in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, on Feb. 21. (Photo: Michail Palinchak, AFP/Getty Images)

The statue of Goddess Bereginya is illuminated by lights placed where 100 activists were killed during the 2014 anti-government protests on Feb. 20 at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo: Sergey Dolzhenko, European Pressphoto Agency)

A pro-Russian rebel walks through a destroyed position of Ukrainian forces near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve on Feb. 20, 2015. Germany and France demanded that a crumbling Ukraine truce be "fully respected" even as pro-Russian rebels celebrated a battlefield victory in a strategic town and exchanged artillery fire elsewhere with government troops. PHOTO / ANDREY BORODULINANDREY BORODULIN/AFP/Getty Images ORIG FILE ID: 538081747 (Photo: Andrey Borodulin, AFP/Getty Images)

Residents line up waiting for a delivery of aid as a Russia-backed rebel guards a pile of weapons and ammunition on Feb. 20outside an administration building in Debaltseve, Ukraine.After weeks of relentless fighting, the embattled Ukrainian rail hub of Debaltseve fell on Feb. 18 to Russia-backed separatists. (Photo: Vadim Ghirda, AP)

A young girl leans on a cart used to carry tree branches for fire, outside a damaged apartment building in Debaltseve, Ukraine. After weeks of relentless fighting, the embattled Ukrainian rail hub of Debaltseve fell Wednesday to Russia-backed separatists. (Photo: Vadim Ghirda, AP)

A woman visits the temporary memorial for Maidan activists on Feb 20 in Kiev, Ukraine. The activists were killed during anti-government protests one year ago near the city's Independence Square. (Photo: Sergey Dolzhenko, European Pressphoto Agency)

A man holding a Ukrainian flag stands vigil at Maidan Square in Kiev. Ukraine is commemorating the first anniversary of the Feb. 20, 2014, sniper attacks that killed dozens of protesters in the Maidan and were followed thereafter by the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. (Photo: Sean Gallup, Getty Images)

Russia-backed rebels pose by a road sign on Feb. 20, 2015, at the entrance in Debaltseve, Ukraine, after checking the access road into town for mines they suspected were laid down by retreating Ukrainian government troops. After weeks of relentless fighting, the embattled Ukrainian rail hub fell to Russia-backed separatists. (Photo: Vadim Ghirda, AP)

Ukrainian government soldiers who withdrew from Debaltseve prepare to return to support a further pullout of troops on Feb.19 in Artemivsk, Ukraine. Ukrainian forces began withdrawing from the strategic town on Feb. 18 after they were surrounded by pro-Russia rebels. (Photo: Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images)

Pro-Russia rebels fire a volley of Grad missiles at Ukrainian government troops on Feb. 18 near Debaltseve. Ukrainian troops pulled out of Debaltseve after it was stormed by pro-Russia rebels. (Photo: Andrey Borodulin, AFP/Getty Images)

A resident salvages her belongings after her building was heavily damaged during fighting between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian government forces in Donetsk. (Photo: Andrey Borodulin, AFP/Getty Images)

A man tries to remove pieces of broken glass from a window in a school damaged by a Grad missile on Jan. 25 in Vostochniy, eastern Ukraine. Thirty people were killed when rockets slammed into a market, schools, homes and shops. (Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka, AP)

Ukrainian servicemen ride an APC in the front-line village of Orlovka near Donetsk. Pro-Russian rebels vowed to conquer more territory in eastern Ukraine and ruled out peace talks after Kiev retreated from a long-disputed airport. (Photo: Oleksandr Stashevskiy, AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke rises near the main terminal of Sergey Prokofiev International Airport during an artillery battle between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian government forces on Oct. 12. (Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky, AP)

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In the town of Ilovaysk, about 15 miles east of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, Ukrainian Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the country's national security council, said troops were withdrawing.

"We are surrendering this city," he said, adding military units had also been ordered to retreat from Novosvitlivka and Khryashchuvate, two towns on the main road between the Russian border and Luhansk, another rebel stronghold.

"Our task now is to evacuate our military with the least possible losses in order to regroup."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said Saturday that one of its fighter jets — a Su-25 — was shot down Friday over the eastern part of the country by a missile from a Russian missile launcher. The pilot ejected and was uninjured, the military said in a statement.

The developments come after NATO, in a blunt statement Friday, condemned Russian military action in Ukraine, saying its troops have "illegally crossed the border" as part of a "dangerous pattern over many months" to destabilize its neighbor.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, speaking after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine commission, charged that Russian forces were directly engaged in military operations inside Ukraine; continuing to supply separatists with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and rocket launchers; and had fired on Ukraine from both Russian territory and within Ukraine itself.

"This is a blatant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Rasmussen said. "It defies all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution."

The two-day NATO summit in Wales, which created a rapid response force to deal with Russian aggression, apparently is the impetus behind a conditional truce in Ukraine. The fluid situation between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists as it stands on Sept. 5.:

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Truce declared

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Under rebel control

SOURCES: Information and Analysis Center of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, AP, USA TODAY research